Elixir Manipal, Healthcare App by Students for Students

Two students of Manipal University, Saurish Reddy a third-year Kasturba Medical College, Manipal student and Ankit Awal who just completed his B.Tech from Manipal Institute of Technology developed an app called “Elixir Manipal” to facilitate students of the University to book an appointment with doctors of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal in case of a need and to know the services rendered by the hospital. Elixir Manipal was launched at a function in the counselling hall of Manipal Edu building on Tuesday.

Presently, the students have to call the hospital to get their files moved from the record section to the department concerned to meet a particular doctor. Elixir Manipal has simplified the process as the students can now use the app to fix an appointment with any doctor. Last year Kasturba Hospital decided to get a student clinic application developed, and the responsibility was given to Solert DevOps Private Limited, a healthcare startup, pre-incubated at Manipal University’s Technology Business Incubator (MUTBI).

Saurish and Ankit representing the startup took it upon themselves to develop the app. “We were working on cloud based technology, so when we got the project we built it on it,” said Ankit. “The term Elixir Manipal was coined to represent not only a healing method for the ailments, but also to reduce the difficulties the students had while visiting the hospital during working hours, having to miss classes,” said Saurish.

Under the mentorship and guidance of Dr. Suma Nair and Dr. Sulatha Bhandary, Director and Deputy Director, Student Affairs the application was developed and initiated in-house in Manipal University. Within the first three months, a prototype was generated and then presented at various levels to seek approvals from all the administrative officers at Kasturba Hospital, chaired by Dr. Somu G, Head of the Department, Hospital Administration, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal.

The prototype was the presented at the KMC Dean’s Council meeting chaired by Dr. Poornima Baliga B, Pro Vice Chancellor (Health Sciences), Manipal University and Dr. Pragna Rao, Dean, KMC, Manipal, Dr. Col M Dayananda, Chief Operating Office and Medical Superintendent. The next phase of data pooling was conducted in the fourth month and the android module of the application was generated by the students.

Following a two-month debugging phase wherein bugs were solved in real time, high quality code was already written for the project. Two months of beta testing was done and over 300 students volunteered to test the project and the methodology was improvised.

Post beta phase, the app showed excellent results and a 100% success rate, and all the requirements were met. Finally, it was ready for the launch. Excited about the success of the application, Saurish and Ankit hope to provide the solutions to other healthcare institutions nationwide with their technology. It is being highly cost-effective, the startup envisions to contribute to healthcare nationwide.

Speaking of the successful launch of the app, Vice Chancellor, Dr. H. Vinod Bhat said, “The Most interesting feature of this startup is the confluence of various domains of knowledge coming together and joining hands to work was a cause rather than the effect. While Saurish worked towards the well-being of the society, Ankit being an Information Technology graduate put in his expertise to the right use and thought beyond what was possible in the field.